


The Missing Link In Our Friendship

by ConkusConcussion



Series: Gavin and Richard Are (Sometimes) Assholes in Love [2]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Human, Childhood Friends, Connor & Upgraded Connor | RK900 are Siblings, Connor and Rupert are roommates, Gavin has a one night stand, M/M, One Night Stands, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash, Upgraded Connor | RK900 Has a Different Name, or does he???, simon flirts with Richard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-09
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2019-06-24 10:18:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15628584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConkusConcussion/pseuds/ConkusConcussion
Summary: On Richard's first day on campus, he comes across an old childhood acquiantance who iswaypast drunk. A small act of kindness becomes the missing link between their indifference and friendship.Or, a story in which Richard helps Gavin to keep from embarrassing his drunk ass in the middle of their dorm building.





	The Missing Link In Our Friendship

**Richard: Freshman in College**   
**Connor: Sophomore in College**   
**Gavin: Junior in College**

**Freshman Orientation Day**

    Richard sighed, leaning his head down on the desk before him and closing his eyes. He was currently sitting near the back of a now-emptying lecture hall. The student speaker, whose name Richard didn’t bother to remember, had just finished giving her presentation on why their university was the best as if the people here hadn’t already agreed to enrol here. Next, to him, his brother was looking at him with an eyebrow raised, waiting for Richard to pull himself together. Hank, their dad, had been busy with a case so he wasn’t able to come to Student & Family Orientation. Since Connor’s classes don’t begin for another two weeks, he volunteered to go with his younger brother to the orientation, despite having already sat through it the previous year when he first enrolled.

    “If you’re too tired to go to the complimentary dinner, we can go to my dorm and order in pizza?” Connor suggested idly. “Though I wouldn’t recommend it if you want a social life.”

    Richard looked up at Connor in disgust. “Clearly I want the pizza.”

    Connor gave his brother an exasperated smile, standing up. “It’s a bit of a walk, just so you know.”

    Richard’s only response was a groan as he followed his brother down the lecture hall’s stairs and out the glass doors. Most people had already flooded out and were headed towards the commons to eat the ‘Final Dinner’ before the families had to leave and the students were abandoned to the harshities of college life. Frankly, Richard didn’t think it was a very good title. It reminded him too much of the prisoners on death row, who had one final, extravagant meal before being killed, alone, surrounded by strangers. Thankfully, Richard didn’t feel alone at all since his brother lived in the same building as him. He was glad that he had requested to live in Norman Hall as soon as the college accepted him, it tended to fill up quickly. Though low-income families always held priority in dorm selections, a rule unique to their university. Richard and Connor both received decently sized scholarships due to their academic excellence, but they also received large amounts of financial aid, since they came from a single-parent, low-income house. One time, Hank had said that if their mother were still alive, they probably would’ve been able to pay for their college on her salary. Richard had only been 2 -- and Connor, 2 -- when their mother and older brother, Cole, had died in a car accident. For years afterwards, their dad had been a drunkard. He had never mistreated them, except for once, when they were teenagers. Their dad had put his gun to his head in a twisted game of Russian Roulette, Connor had stopped him, only for him to level the gun at Connor’s head. As soon as he realised what he had done, he dropped the gun. Neither of them had told Richard what had happened until much, much later.

    Richard pushed the thoughts of worse times away from his mind, he already had a headache, and he really didn’t need that to make it worse. Instead, he took in the campus as they walked. They had already passed several buildings and were now cutting across Norman Courtyard, passing by a beautiful fountain. It was composed of two simple statues standing in the midst of a pool of water. It didn’t have any intricate pumps or cascading waterfalls, but there was a beauty to the simplicity.  
The statues were both composed of what Richard would guess is bronze and both sat on a platform that was equal to the water height. One was of a stallion standing tall, muscles clearly defined in an ultra-realistic style. Its eyes were closed and head bowed, as if resigned. The other statue was also of a stallion, but this one was laying down, its head reaching up towards the others. Richard noticed then that there was running water within the fountain. Water was cascading from the eyes of both horses.

    “Unnerving, right?” Connor’s musing interrupted Richard’s analysis of the statue. “It’s called the ‘Weeping Always Lose’, it was made by an alum a few years ago.”

    “Huh.” Was all Richard said? They were approaching the Norman Hall entrance. Artificial light was pouring out through the glass doors, illuminating the ground against the darkness of dusk.

    “What kind of pizza do you want?” Connor asked as he pushed open the door, leading them directly into a hallway that ended in an elevator. His brother already had his phone in his hand without Richard even noticing. “Spinach?”

    “I guess.” Richard shrugged. He and his brother were both fairly health conscious, so they rarely got heavily topped pizza, on the few occasions that they did get it.

    “Just making sure,” Connor mumbled, and as he put the phone to his ear, they entered the elevator. Richard pressed the number 3, remembering what room his brother said he had. The elevator didn’t have any background music, so Richard was able to hear the dial tones as Connor called.

    “Annie’s Pizza, how can I help you?”

    “I’d like one medium, spinach pizza for delivery, please.”

    “That’ll be $12; what’s the address?”

    “It’s at the college. Room 313 in Norman Hall.”

    “Thank you. Have a nice day.”

    “You as well,” Connor replied briskly, ending the call right as the elevator reached the appropriate floor. Richard walked in step with Connor as they passed about three doors before they reached what must’ve been his. He wiggled his key in the lock before turning, swinging the door open.

    Richard hadn’t seen the inside of his brother’s dorm before, but he wasn’t surprised by the fact that it was immaculate. In the centre of the room, there was an entertainment stand with an average-sized T.V and gaming console sitting on it. Two bean bags sat on a rug directly in front of it. Two beds sat on either side of the room, perfectly equidistant from the entertainment stand. Richard assumed that the one with grey sheets were Connor’s, since they were the same as the ones he had before he moved out. He didn’t have to wonder about who owned the other, green bed, because he was sitting right there on top of it.

    He had dark, wild hair that matched his brown eye colour near perfectly. Currently, the man was sitting cross-legged on his bed, his computer in front of him and his notebook in his lap. He looked to be deeply concentrated on whatever he was watching, but the effect was lost due to his bird-printed pyjama bottoms and plaid sleeping shirt.

    “Sorry, Rupert. I forgot you were moving in tonight.” Connor seemed flustered by having been caught off guard. The boy, Rupert, looked as if he had expected as much. Richard could relate, having lived with Connor as his brother for years.

    “That’s okay, I figured. It’s good to see you, man.” Rupert blinked at Richard, finally seeming to notice his presence. “I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that this is the little brother?”

    Richard nodded, unconsciously crossing his arms. “Nice to meet you.”

    “You too.” Rupert yawned. Shutting his laptop down, he addressed Connor. “Anyway, I’m going to head to sleep. I was just staying up till you got here.”

    “Thanks.” Connor walked over to the bean bags and dragged one over so that it leaned up against his bed. Sitting down, he gestured for Richard to join him. “My brother and I are just going to watch T.V until our pizza gets here. We’ll try to be quiet.”

    “‘Kay..” Was all Rupert said as he drew his covers up and rolled over so that his back was to the brothers.

    Richard quietly dragged the last beanbag over so that it was also leaning against Connor’s bed before sitting down. He stretched his back, hearing it pop. He felt like he had been awake for days, when in actuality he had a full night’s rest the night before. This morning, though, he had loaded up all of his boxes, drove to Ann Arbor, moved all of his stuff into his dorm, and had still gotten it all done before 9am when the orientation had officially started.

    Connor grabbed the remote, flipping through channels until finally resting on something that both of them enjoyed: Law & Order. Back when they were younger, the two of them would watch the show all the time when their dad was late coming home from work.

    Richard didn’t know how long they sat there watching the show, but by the time Richard realised how long they had sat there, twenty minutes had already passed and there was a knock on their door. Being the closest to the door, Richard got up and opened it.

    “Did you have an order for a medium spinach pizza?” The pretty, blonde-haired boy at the door asked. He was dressed in a red t-shirt, black pants, and a red visor. His name tag had an Annie’s Pizza logo at the top and said Simon in pretty handwriting.

    “Yea… Um,” Richard knew he probably looked like an idiot, staring at the pizza delivery guy. He just couldn’t shake the feeling that he knew him from somewhere. “Do I know you?”

    Simon seemed equally perturbed. “I… don’t know?”

    Apparently tired of Richard’s antics, Connor joined him at the door, widening his eyes upon seeing Simon.

    “Simon! It’s good to see you, I didn’t know you lived near here.” Connor was all smiles as he addressed the other man. Upon seeing Connor, Simon suddenly seemed to realise who Richard was, leaving Richard to be the only one out of the group. “Here let me take that.” He handed over the ten-dollar bill he apparently had waiting in his hand.

    “I just transferred here, apparently a lot of kids from our High School came here, so I figured… I know, why not?” Simon shrugged, handing the pizza out to Connor. It made sense now, Simon was one of Connor’s friends from high school. That’s why he looked familiar, Richard must’ve seen him visiting the house at some point. From what he remembered of the boy, thinking back on it now, he seemed like a fairly goal-oriented kid. Either he had undergone serious personality changes, or he wasn’t telling the whole truth.

    “That’s crazy,” Connor said as he went back to the room and laid the pizza box on his bed.

    “That means you must be Ricky, right?” Simon asked, turning his attention back to Richard.

    “No one really calls me Ricky anymore except for my brother… But yeah, that’s me, Richard.” Richard held out his hand. Simon immediately took it for a firm handshake.

    “That’s because you’re a strong man now,” Simon said jokingly, there was an undertone to his voice that Richard was vaguely sure was flirting. “Soft men are Rickies, Strong, bears-of-men are Richards.”

    He didn’t really know what that meant, but he felt like it was a compliment anyway. “Thank you?”

    Simon laughed, shaking his head. “You’re cute. Ask your brother for my number.” He smiled at him. “I’ve got to go now, more pizzas to deliver, but hit me up sometime.”

    “I will,” Richard felt flattered as he gave him a small smile. “Goodbye.”

    “Bye!” Connor called from his beanbag, a paper plate of spinach pizza in hand.

 

    By the time they had finished the pizza, they had gotten through an episode and a half of Law & Order and Rupert was snoring loudly from his bed. Richard ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. Now, he had to walk all the way back to his dorm before he could go to sleep. Admittedly, it wasn’t that far, but it was more the principle of the thing.

    “I’ll see you in the morning?” Connor asked as Richard stood up, clearly noticing that his brother was getting ready to leave.

    “Yeah, I’ll come over once I’ve unpacked some.” Richard yawned, stretching his back for the second time that day. And for the second time that day, it popped loudly.

    “That doesn’t sound healthy, Ricky.” Connor frowned at him.

    Richard rolled his eyes, moving towards the door. “It’s nothing. Good night, Connor.”

    “Goodnight,” Connor called as he left, closing the door quietly behind him so as not to wake Rupert. Turning around, he was met with a sight that he certainly hadn’t expected.

    Gavin Reed.

    Of course, he had known that Gavin Reed went to university here. As Simon had said, a lot of people from their high school had enrolled here. He also knew because Gavin had told him himself, 3 months ago. They had been civil then. Richard wouldn’t exactly call it friendly… but it wasn’t as bad as it had been when they were kids.

    “Richard?” Gavin’s voice sounded rough, surprised, and even a little scared. Taking in his appearance, Richard found himself equally shocked since it was clear what the other man had just been doing. His hair was a sweaty mess and his clothes were wrinkled in a way that only happened from rolling around in them. His jacket was only half on one shoulder and completely off the other. All of that, on top of the fact that Gavin had called him ‘Richard’ and not ‘Anderson”.

    “Gavin?” Richard’s voice came out quieter than he intended, but just as shocked as he felt. Suddenly taking note of the red marks on Gavin’s neck, something made him feel sick to his stomach, like throwing up. Across from him, Gavin swallowed as he hastily pulled his tan jacket up closer to his neck, adjusting it so that it was laying across his shoulders like it was supposed to instead of like a shaw.

    Gavin cleared his throat. “I see you, uh… I see you decided to come here after all.”

    “Yeah. I see that you’re, uh, here... Still.” Nice Richard, very eloquent.

    “Yup,” Gavin said uncomfortably, rubbing the back of his neck. They stood in an awkward silence for several moments, neither of them really saying anything until Gavin decided to break the silence. “So, uh, is your dorm near here?”

    “No, actually, this is my brother’s dorm. Mine’s downstairs.” Richard muttered.

    “Second floor?” Gavin asked, surprised.

    “Yeah… How’d you know?” Richard raised an eyebrow, and was nonplussed when Gavin smirked at him.

    “I’m going to be a Detective, Rich. Of course, I know.” Gavin’s smirk fell into a smile. Richard realised that, based on his glassy eyes and lilted words, he was probably intoxicated. Last time he checked, alcohol on campus was strictly prohibited. “But really,” He leaned in closer, whispering. “I live on that floor, too. But shhh, don’t tell the cops… Shit, I am the cops”

    Richard couldn’t help but laugh, Gavin was kind of funny when drunk. “Alright, Officer, let’s go downstairs, huh? I think you need to go to bed.”

    “I was just in bed, Rich. I wanna go to sleep.” Gavin’s remark brought back that sick feeling in Richard’s chest again, as he became acutely aware of what Gavin had just been doing. Putting a hand on Gavin’s shoulder, Richard carefully led him towards the elevator.

    “I know, Gavin,” Richard said softly, as he led him down the hall slowly, his hand never leaving the other’s shoulder. “Let’s get you to sleep.”

    Gavin mumbled something under his breath that Richard couldn’t make out, and didn’t try to either. Reaching the elevator, he helped Gavin to lean against the wall before pressing the down button. After a moment, the elevator dinged and once again revealed it’s plain, wood paneled interior. Gavin made his way into the elevator himself, albeit it swaying, as Richard pressed the second-floor button. As the elevator lurched forward, Gavin swayed a bit more than he had probably intended and ended up in Richard’s arms.

    “God fucking dammit.” He cursed lowly, his grip on Richard noticeably tightened when the elevator came to an unsteady halt. “The ground’s not doing what I fucking say. I am its master.” Thanking the heavens above that no one was there to witness the action, Richard placed one hand on Gavin’s back and the other just above the crook of his elbow as they began making their way down the hallway. Realising, suddenly, that he had an issue.

    “Gavin, I need you to think very carefully, what’s your room number?” Richard spoke slowly as if he were talking to a human time bomb.

    “242, sir,” Gavin mumbled, sleepiness beginning to overcome him. He lazily reached into his pocket, fumbling for the key as they continued walking. “I have a key.”

    “Alright, stay there, okay?” Richard said softly as he once again helped Gavin to lean against the wall. Gavin snorted but did as he was told anyway. Taking the key from his hand, Richard quickly unlocked and opened the door. He hoped Gavin didn’t have a roommate asleep right now, because he was flicking on the switch.

    The room, for the most part, looked exactly like Connor’s, except there was only one bed instead of two and the entertainment stand was in the corner rather than in the middle of the room. Holding on to Gavin once more, Richard helped the other man into his room, keeping him from stumbling as the went. Richard sat Gavin on the bed (colourfully polka dotted sheets, he noted) and removed his jacket. He looked around for someplace to hang it without having to open Gavin’s closet when he saw a conveniently placed hook on the door. He hung the jacket up, and when he turned back around, Gavin was looked at him with a raw expression on his face that Richard wasn’t entirely comfortable seeing.

    Growing up, Gavin had always been this untouchable, invulnerable force. He never let his guard down, and if you even suggested something along the lines of ‘opening up’ he wouldn’t hesitate in punching you directly in the face. Richard was mildly worried that Gavin was going to end up saying something he would regret the next day. Instead, his next statement bewildered Richard in its unpredictability. It was rare that anything caught him off guard, but then, Gavin had always been full of surprises.

    “You’ve done this before, haven’t you? With your dad?” His tone wasn’t cruel like it probably would’ve been when they were kids… and sober. Richard really didn’t want to respond, but it's not like the other man remember much of it in the morning.

    “Yeah. Usually, my brother handled it, but when he wasn’t home…” Richard trailed off. “I love my dad. He’s a good man, despite what you say. He just had a disease.”

    “Don’t we all.” Gavin’s voice turned bitter, more familiar. “You know, if you wanted to take off my clothes, you coulda asked.”

    Richard rolled his eyes. “You’ll thank me in the morning.” He pulled the black, long-sleeved t-shirt off, over Gavin’s head. “Actually, you won’t. You’re kind of an asshole.”

    “And you’re kind of a pretentious prick, but you don’t see me sayin’ anything,” Gavin grumbled, crossing his arms in a childish way. Richard gently pushed at Gavin’s shoulder, urging him to lay down. With a petulant groan, Gavin did as he was non-verbally commanded. Richard kneeled at the end of the bed and loosened the strings on Gavin’s boots before softly removing them, careful not to hurt the other man.

    “That’s the most I can do for tonight, Gavin. If you need me,” God, why was Richard saying this? “I’m two doors down. Do not come get me unless its an emergency, got it?”

    “I think you’re forgetting something, Rich.” Gavin gestured overly extravagantly to his pants. Richard laughed, shaking his head.

    “Goodnight Gavin, get sober.”

    “Goodnight beautiful, see you in the morning.

* * *

 

    The next morning, when Gavin had come over and very begrudgingly apologised, Richard had invited him to breakfast and coffee with him and his brother. To say he was stunned when Gavin accepted was an understatement. Gavin and his brother had even managed to be mostly civil the whole time. Maybe, they could be friends yet?

**Author's Note:**

> I was really sleepy when I wrote this so grammar and spelling errors are likely if not assured ^^


End file.
